Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton is hoping Groton Mayor Heather Somers, a descendant of Founding Father Roger Sherman, helps him raise the money and capture the delegates he needs to secure the Republican nomination for governor.

The decision to name a running mate so far in advance of the party convention in May is unconventional in Connecticut politics.

“It just made sense that we started early,” Boughton said Tuesday at a press conference in Groton to make the announcement about Somers.

Boughton said the decision was based partly on the dynamics of the Republican Party and partly on Somers’ personality.

Somers, an entrepreneur who started her own medical device company in 1997, is serving her fifth term on the Groton Town Council, which is located in Connecticut’s vast Second District.

“Why bother waiting? The times are so challenging and the issues are so important,” Boughton said. “It definitely is a different approach, but we think it’s a winning approach.”

In 2010, Boughton described the race for lieutenant governor as “chaotic” because Tom Foley, who ended up winning the nomination, tried to find a running mate at the convention. When word leaked out that Foley was encouraging former state Rep. Lenny Winkler of Groton to run for the position, the response from the party faithful was swift.

Winkler, who voted in favor of the income tax back in 1991, received 90 votes, which wasn’t enough to primary. Eventually, Boughton who had been teamed up with former Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, became Foley’s running mate after the primary.

“Heather Somers I believe would be a great lieutenant governor, a great governing partner who understands Connecticut, and will work tirelessly on public policy issues that face the state and I want to do that early,” Boughton said.

Boughton said he spoke with Bacchiochi before Tuesday’s announcement and explained his strategy.

“I have an immense amount of respect for her and congratulate anyone willing to throw their hat in the ring,” he said.

The delegate count for the Republican Party is not complete, but it’s likely that a large number of them will come from the Second District.

Having a lieutenant governor candidate from Groton gives Boughton some geographical diversity.

“Southeastern Connecticut has sort of been the redheaded stepchild that nobody really visits or goes to,” Somers said. “A lot of the focus is in Fairfield County, so I think together we bring a good package.”

Boughton said Somers also brings a fundraising prowess, which is important as well.

Teaming up gives Boughton and Somers and opportunity to jointly raise funds going into the primary. Under Connecticut’s public finance rules, a lieutenant governor candidate can use the governor’s candidate committee to promote both candidates.

A lieutenant governor candidate is required to raise $75,000 in small donations and receive a $375,000 primary grant. A candidate for governor can raise $250,000 in small donations and receive a $1.25 million primary grant.

“I’ll be donating to Heather’s committee, she’ll be donating to my committee because we want to see success for both of us,” Boughton said.

He said the rest is a paperwork issue that will be sorted out at a later date.

Asked if there was a potential to run a whole slate of statewide candidates for Secretary of the State, Treasurer, Attorney General, and Comptroller, Boughton said, “there’s very much a potential possibility that you’ll see Team Boughton expand over the next month or two.”

Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said she has yet to hear any specifics from Boughton about what programs he would cut in the budget. She said all she’s heard is criticism of the progress that Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is making.

Asked for specifics, Boughton said if he was governor he wouldn’t be giving economic development dollars to companies to move from one town to another. He also wouldn’t give money to companies like the Lazy Burritto, whose owner was involved in five collection and foreclosure actions over the past three years.

Comments

(3) Archived Comments

posted by: Commuter | January 30, 2014 11:58am

Very smart. Boughton has clearly done his homework and has a strategy. So far, he’s running the best campaign on the Republican side.

posted by: William Jenkins | January 31, 2014 10:19am

The Republican delegate count isn’t any secret, if you review the Republican state party rules (available from the Secretary of the State), the exact number of delegates can be determined.
1st CD = 211
2nd CD = 330
3rd CD = 197
4th CD = 220
5th CD = 298

The largest number come from the 2nd CD however that’s where Penny Bacchiochi is the strongest. Penny has been campaigning for this for almost a year and has just about qualified for the CEP.

posted by: Commuter | February 1, 2014 1:33am

@ William - and Peggy is a very attractive candidate who is executing a smart strategy effectively, by all indications. But Boughton has played this well.

While Peggy is arguably the strongest Republican female in the the second district, she doesn’t control all the delegates.

Boughton’s choice will attract delegate support from that part of eastern Connecticut, splitting the vote, and simultaneously leaving Bacchiocci in a weakened negotiating position while pitting Foley and McKinney head to head for the delegates (and the money) that Penny does control.

To his credit, the one clear winner in this maneuver is Boughton.

By virtue of this, he does seem to have the upper hand (it is definitely too soon to say momentum), and this turn of events raises the possibility that Foley (reportedly not so popular with too many of the party stalwarts) will not have enough delegates to participate in the inevitable primary.

Although that bar is pretty low (I believe using your numbers he only needs 189), if delegates really believe Malloy is going to lose, they may well jump to whomever they think is going to prevail to be sure they are on the right horse when the carousel stops. If Boughton and McKinney both have (let’s say) about 40% of the delegates, it is a possibility that enough Foley delegates could flip to push him under the threshold.